Huddersfield Town digest as Leeds clash looms over newfound optimism
We take a moment to stop and look at the level of progress Town have made this week before Saturday's local derby
Something suddenly occurred to me last night, as these things often do on a lazy Sunday evening with nothing better to think about than Huddersfield Town. This time, it was prompted by one of my customary scrolls through the data on WhoScored, where I was surprised to learn there are now eight Championship sides with fewer goals than the Terriers this season.
Are you ready for it?
The only team to keep a clean sheet against Huddersfield Town since Christmas are Manchester City.
For a team that had struggled to score goals pretty much all season, that’s quite the turnaround. 19 goals have come in Town’s 11 Championship games from Boxing Day onwards, which neatly marked the beginning of the second half of the league season. Only Southampton, Leeds, Leicester, Ipswich, and Coventry have scored more over the same period.
Of course, the rate of scoring has dramatically increased since Darren Moore’s departure: they’ve scored as many goals in their past five games as Moore’s side managed in ten.
Where you get goals, you get points, and it’s a similar story there. Town’s nine points from their past five games is as many as they had from the last 11 under Moore, and as many Championship wins as they had in his entire 22-game spell. If the season had started at Christmas, Town would be sitting in 11th place.
Unfortunately, the issue here is that Sheffield Wednesday would be a point better off in 10th, while Queens Park Rangers would be 12th, level on points with a slightly inferior goal difference. The season not having begun at Christmas, that leaves 19th-placed Town still only just outside the drop zone.
But at this point, let Sheffield Wednesday and QPR keep doing what they’re doing: there’s other teams in the mix now. As long as Town do likewise, they will be fine.
You could say those are big words ahead of the local derby with bang-in-form Leeds this Saturday. But then again, Leeds’ next three games after that are against Stoke, Sheffield Wednesday and Millwall.
Town are still in the middle of perhaps their toughest run of fixtures this season, but it looks like April will be when their fate is decided: they face potential six-pointers against Stoke (22nd), Millwall (20th), Swansea (17th) and Birmingham (18th).
Town’s record this season against the sides around them offers further encouragement, however: the only one of the bottom nine to have beaten them so far this season is Birmingham.
Still, football has a way of making this kind of optimistic talk look really, really stupid — especially when you’re only two points away from the relegation zone.
For now, Town have made a start…but that’s still all it is. Now to finish the job.
Ins and outs
Andre Breitenreiter’s coaching team had yet to be confirmed ahead of last week’s digest, so while we’re sure you’re all well aware of it by this point, let’s just box it off for the sake of completion.
Asif Saric is an established and trusted right-hand man to Breiteinreiter, having worked as his assistant at previous clubs Paderborn and Hannover, where he stayed for another couple of years after Breitenreiter’s departure, enjoying a spell as interim boss.
Thomas Kleine’s playing career took in spells as a centre-back at Bayer Leverkusen, Hannover, Borussia Monchengladbach, and two stints at Greuther Furth (where he was teammates with a young Michael Hefele — though the two never played a competitive game together as far as we can tell). He moved into coaching in 2015, taking charge of Greuther Furth’s youth team before having a year as head coach of newly-promoted German third-tier side Bayreuth. Kleine must await formal confirmation on his work permit before he can start work at Town, however.
Kevin Russell has also been retained as a first-team assistant coach on a permanent basis, having only arrived at Town as B team manager last month — a role that will need to be filled again. Jon Worthington has meanwhile opted to return to his full-time job as academy manager, allowing him to focus fully on that role at a critical juncture in the club’s ongoing efforts to overhaul their youth system.
Andy Quy has arrived as the club’s new goalkeeping coach. He previously worked as an academy coach at Derby County and Aston Villa and with the first team at Lincoln City, then-Premier League Stoke, Brentford, Burton Albion, and MLS side Charlotte, as well as consulting for the FA.
What’s been said
“Andre was very early presented to us, and immediately when you look at his background and his CV and his success, he has not only developing teams and developing players, but developing clubs and making them successful — and continuing that success as well.
“It was very apparent from an early position this was someone we had to speak to. We had a very good initial Zoom call at which point I phoned a mutual friend of ours and basically said: ‘Is this real? How is this possible?’
“He reassured me ‘yes, this is possible’, because we spoke very clearly about the steps we wanted to take. I think it was the fact it was realistic: it wasn’t pie in the sky. We had some very good conversations around the team and about the project in general, and I think from that moment you start thinking: ‘we’ve got our man’.”
— Sporting director Mark Cartwright, on Wednesday afternoon, explaining the process that led to Andre Breitenreiter’s appointment,
“The manager’s not come in and tried to change loads of things, because obviously it’s tough to do in a short period of time, but you can see we want to play attacking football. We press really high, win the ball back high, and we created some good chances today. I’m sure the longer we work with the manager, the better we’ll become.”
— Danny Ward, after his match-winning showing against Watford
“Celebrating the win after the game with the fans…they gave us a lot of good support and we have to really say thank you to them. It was absolutely fantastic watching smiling faces, from the supporters and from the players. I’m very happy.
“I’ve collected so many impressions this week. Some things are different from Germany or Switzerland, but I like it because the mentality is very high.”
— Andre Breitenreiter, after making a winning start to life in English football with the 1-2 victory over Watford
Coming up next
Oh as if you need telling.
Huddersfield Town injuries and absences
Radinio Balker missed the trip to Watford with a quad issue, with Yuta Nakayama taking his place in the back three alongside Matty Pearson and Tom Lees. The injury is however thought to be minor
Breitenreiter admitted after the game that Pearson played despite having been suffering from a cold in the run-up to the game — as had Bojan Radulovic, who was only passed fit for a place on the bench as a result.
Jonathan Hogg had been struggling with a back injury in the days prior to the Watford trip but muscled through to start the game regardless. However, the physicality of the midfield battle took its toll and he was forced to go off just after the hour. We will seek updates on him and Balker at Breitenreiter’s pre-match press conference later this week.
Sorba Thomas had travelled down to Watford with the squad, but had to go back home to Yorkshire for personal reasons.
Michal Helik had been struggling with the heavy kick he received against Queens Park Rangers last month, causing him to miss the Watford game. Jon Worthington had indicated late in his caretaker spell that Helik is working towards his recovery with the club’s sports science team.
Jaheim Headley and Rhys Healey are both expected to be out for another few weeks with ankle and groin injuries respectively, with Headley (with a D) perhaps expected back the sooner of the two.
Josh Ruffels (groin) and Ollie Turton (knee) are of course ruled out for the rest of the season, while Kian Harratt is suspended for the remainder of the campaign for FA gambling infractions.
Predicted Huddersfield Town lineup to face Leeds United
We’re going to predict two to four changes for Saturday, depending on Hogg and Balker’s fitness status.
We expect Thomas to take over from David Kasumu at right wing-back, which would free up Kasumu to take over from Hogg as Alex Matos’ partner in central midfielder if the skipper is unable to start.
As long as he is passed fit to do so, Ward is surely a shoo-in to start up top after his exploits from the bench at Watford (where he now has five goals in four visits with Town, fact fans). Delano Burgzorg feels like the more likely partner for him, though Josh Koroma arguably offers a bit more off the ball, giving Breitenreiter a bit of a choice to make there.
If Helik returns to fitness there’s an age-old debate in the back line, but at this stage and for this game, we imagine Breitenreiter will stick with what he already knows and save Helik for the midweek trip to Cardiff. We imagine Balker will replace Nakayama if fit, with the Japanese international staying in the side if not.
3-4-1-2: Lee Nicholls; Matty Pearson, Tom Lees, Radinio Balker/Yuta Nakayama; Sorba Thomas, Alex Matos, Jonathan Hogg/David Kasumu, Brodie Spencer; Jack Rudoni; Danny Ward, Delano Burgzorg.
Substitutes: Chris Maxwell, Michal Helik, Yuta Nakayama/Tom Edwards, Brahima Diarra, David Kasumu/Ben Jackson, Ben Wiles, Pat Jones, Josh Koroma, Bojan Radulovic.
We Are Terriers podcast live show
Don’t forget that David Hartrick and I will record an episode of the We Are Terriers podcast live at Magic Rock Huddersfield Taproom on Wednesday 13th March following the annual general meeting of the Huddersfield Town Supporters’ Association.
The AGM will take place at 6:30pm, with the podcast recording pencilled in for an 8pm start.
Attendance is free for all HTSA members. You can register for the event here — and if you’re not an HTSA member already, you can become one for the next 12 months for just £1. Sign up here.
There is no requirement for you to attend the AGM to attend the podcast live show, but you will still need to be an HTSA member. If you do wish to vote in the AGM, however, you will need to have registered as a member by no later than 28th February.
Huddersfield Town Women
Town Women’s scheduled Yorkshire derby against Halifax on Thursday evening just gone was postponed.
They are scheduled to take on West Bromwich Albion this Sunday, 3rd March in a 2pm kick-off. They need your support for an absolutely vital relegation six-pointer against a Baggies side sitting in safety one place and seven points ahead of Town having played two games more.
Make sure you get down to Shelley’s Stafflex Arena for that one, with tickets just £6 for adults, £4 for concessions and free to those aged 16 and under.
Our schedule
David Hartrick looks set to return to the We Are Terriers podcast this week after missing last week’s edition with a lost voice. All being well this time, we will have the usual podcast offering out on Wednesday for you.
The Watford game was our first chance to see an Andre Breitenreiter’s side in the flesh, so for this week’s mid-week written piece I intend to look in more detail at one particular role in his side that I felt was worthy of more attention than I was able to give it in five conclusions. Probably Tuesday for that one.
Both the podcast and that piece will only be available to our £5-a-month backers (or £55-a-year, if you prefer), so make sure you’re fully signed up to get access to those!
Player ratings from the 12:30 kick-off against Leeds on Saturday will be available for all readers on the final whistle, with the early start meaning paid backers can expect five conclusions around teatime.